1977 NAPA National 500

Last updated

1977 NAPA National 500
Race details [1] [2]
Race 27 of 30 in the 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Lowe's Motor Speedway.svg
Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
Date October 9, 1977 (1977-10-09)
Official name NAPA National 600
Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 2.414 km (1.500 miles)
Distance 334 laps, 500 mi (865 km)
Weather Mild with temperatures of 78.1 °F (25.6 °C); wind speeds of 14 miles per hour (23 km/h)
Average speed 142.780 miles per hour (229.782 km/h)
Attendance 79,400 [2]
Pole position
Driver
 Wood Brothers Racing
Most laps led
Driver Benny Parsons DeWitt Racing
Laps 250
Winner
No. 72Benny ParsonsDeWitt Racing
Television in the United States
Network ABC
Announcers Al Michaels
Chris Economaki

The 1977 NAPA National 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on October 9, 1977, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

Contents

Race report

41 drivers competed at this event. Benny Parsons defeated Cale Yarborough by 19.2 seconds in front of 79,400 spectators. [2] Parsons scored a dominant Winston Cup victory, in terms of percentage of laps led. [2] There were 18 lead changes and four cautions; the race lasted three hours and thirty minutes. [2] Bruce Hill received the last-place finish due to engine problems on lap 15 of this 334-lap race. [2] David Pearson would win the pole position with a qualifying speed of 160.982 miles per hour (259.075 km/h) while the average race speed was 142.780 miles per hour (229.782 km/h). [2] By all evidence, this would be the last win for a Chevrolet Laguna in NASCAR Cup Series history. [2]

His next pole position would come at the 1978 World 600 where he would get his 10th consecutive pole position start at Charlotte Motor Speedway. [3] Pearson's final pole position at Charlotte Motor Speedway would come at the 1978 NAPA National 500 - setting a record. [3] Other notable drivers at this event included: Bill Elliott, Janet Guthrie, Neil Bonnett, A. J. Foyt, Dick Brooks, Darrell Waltrip, and Buddy Baker. [2] Tom Sneva would make his NASCAR debut at this racing event. Dale Earnhardt would start his only race in 1977 driving for Henley Gray.

Individual earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $41,075 ($206,525 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $820 ($4,123 when adjusted for inflation). The total prize purse for this event was $223,530 ($1,123,910 when adjusted for inflation). [4]

Qualifying

GridNo.DriverManufacturerSpeed [5] Qualifying time [5] Owner
121David PearsonMercury160.98233.544Wood Brothers
211Cale YarboroughChevrolet159.84833.782Junior Johnson
31Donnie AllisonChevrolet159.84833.782Hoss Ellington
415Buddy BakerFord159.77333.798Bud Moore
543Richard PettyDodge159.36333.885Petty Enterprises
688Darrell WaltripChevrolet158.81034.003DiGard Racing
75Neil BonnettDodge158.75334.015Jim Stacy
872Benny ParsonsChevrolet158.73534.019L.G. DeWitt
951A.J. FoytChevrolet158.15834.143A.J. Foyt
1092Skip ManningChevrolet158.09434.157Billy Hagan

Finishing order

Section reference: [2]

  1. Benny Parsons†
  2. Cale Yarborough
  3. David Pearson†
  4. Buddy Baker†
  5. Darrell Waltrip
  6. Dick Brooks†
  7. A.J. Foyt
  8. Neil Bonnett†
  9. Janet Guthrie
  10. Bill Elliott
  11. Ron Hutcherson
  12. Coo Coo Marlin†
  13. Dick May†
  14. James Hylton†
  15. J.D. McDuffie†
  16. Richard Childress
  17. Buddy Arrington†
  18. G.C. Spencer†
  19. D.K. Ulrich
  20. Peter Knab
  21. Tommy Gale†
  22. Ed Negre†
  23. Dave Marcis*
  24. Ricky Rudd
  25. Tighe Scott*
  26. Bobby Allison*
  27. Tom Sneva*
  28. Jimmy Means*
  29. Dick Trickle*
  30. Lennie Pond*
  31. Butch Hartman*†
  32. Richard Petty*
  33. Frank Warren*
  34. Sam Sommers*
  35. Skip Manning*
  36. Donnie Allison*
  37. Cecil Gordon*†
  38. Dale Earnhardt*†
  39. Roland Wlodyka*
  40. Jim Raptis*
  41. Bruce Hill*†

* Driver failed to finish race
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased

Standings after the race

PosDriverPoints [2] Differential
1 1rightarrow.png Cale Yarborough 45050
2 Increase2.svg Benny Parsons 4127-378
3 Decrease2.svg Richard Petty 4109-396
4 1rightarrow.png Darrell Waltrip 4067-438
5 1rightarrow.png Buddy Baker 3579-926
6 1rightarrow.png Dick Brooks 3380-1125
7 Increase2.svg James Hylton 3124-1381
8 Decrease2.svg Richard Childress 3120-1385
9 1rightarrow.png Cecil Gordon 3030-1475
10 1rightarrow.png Bobby Allison 3028-1477

References

  1. ↑ "Weather information for the 1977 NAPA National 500". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "1977 NAPA National 500 racing information". Racing Reference. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  3. 1 2 "David Pearson's pole position accomplishment". Scene Daily. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  4. ↑ "1977 NAPA National 500 racing information". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
  5. 1 2 "1977 NAPA National 500 qualifying information". Racing Reference. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Season
1977		Succeeded by
Preceded by National 500/NAPA National 500 races
1977		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.